SSD Died ?

Paul MacDonald
I have it I believe since end of 2013 and I used it as my main (boot drive) drive for my desktop (windows 10)

So 4 years old and older style drive.

Tom,
>Did you try connect SSD via USB-to-SATA converter ?
Yes.

If you had Important data on it and you want to try a fix then try to call this company, check International Offices.
https://www.fields-data-recovery.co.uk/usb-data-recovery.html

So if you try, and also BIOS doesn't see SSD then drive died.
I'm sorry but like John said, purchase new SSD and move on.

The drive had been working, then stopped. Could it be the firmware

If I were to upgrade the firmware... is there a way to do it w/o creating and booting to cd?

Firmware that was working should not cause the drive to just stop (not very likely at all). Much more like the drive itself died.

FWIW I've seen two M500 SSDs that "died" and were brought back to life by simply upgrading the firmware.

Probably wouldn't have thought about it, but when I was asked to look at the first one I saw I called Crucial, and they suggested it.     Worked like a charm -- but I DID have to do it in IDE mode.

" ... is there a way to do it w/o creating and booting to cd? " ==>  Yes.   As you can see on the firmware page I linked you to above, there are two different firmware upgrade utilities -- one that runs in Windows 7; one that runs from a bootable CD.

IF you have a Windows 7 PC with a spare SATA port, you can install the Windows 7 version of the upgrade utility to that; connect the SSD to a SATA port on that PC; and run the upgrade.     As I noted earlier, this MAY require you to boot in IDE mode if the upgrade utility can't "see" the SSD.    I had suggested using the bootable CD because you could simply boot to it on the same system the SSD is already in.

Hey Fella,
I am new here, found this question very interesting , because I am also working in Computer Hardware.
I want to add that why don't you go for a new SSD because BIOS doesn't detected your SSD, so it probably DEAD.

Garycase,
I went to the site you pointed me to, and I followed instructions of creating a bootable USB with the update software. I went into my bios and told it to boot from this USB by making it first in the Boot Processes. But it still boot from my C: / Windows.
Any idea why it won't boot form the USB?

The USB Probably is not Bootable, or place it into  USB2 port and retest.

Assuming their instructions to create a bootable USB did indeed create a bootable USB, you probably need to change the BIOS mode to boot from a legacy USB.

In other words, if you're booting in UEFI mode, you need to change that in the BIOS so you can boot from a legacy device.

Are you getting a boot menu that allows you to select the USB flash drive?    On some systems it will list the device twice -- once in UEFI mode and once in legacy mode.   You need to select legacy.    If it's not showing at all, then it's almost certainly a change you need to make in the BIOS to allow it to boot from the flash drive. -- most likely simply enabling legacy boot.

what pc model - or motherboard model is this?  post it, then we can give specific advice, if needed

ASUS Zenbook UX303UB laptop. And it only has USB 3.0 no USB 2.0

Looking through the BIOS settings, I suspect you need to disable Secure Boot to boot from your legacy USB flash drive.

Change "Secure Boot Control" from Enabled to Disabled => then save the changes and see if you can boot to the flash drive okay.      You may also need to "Add a New Boot Option" -- it's not clear exactly what the options are from the little detail about the BIOS in the manual.    

I'd also disable "Fast Boot" ... this may give you more time to read the optional key choices during the boot process.

The BIOS details start on Page 54 of the manual:  http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/nb/UX303UA/0409_E10406_UX303UA_UB_B.pdf?_ga=1.132942281.630903813.1470899394

I disabled Secure Boot Control but still does not boot from USB.

is the usb device shown in the boot priority list ( usually F8?)

With Secure boot disabled, what does the BIOS show for "Boot options" [See page 55 of the manual].    As I noted above, you may need to "Add New Boot Option" to enable the USB flash drive as a boot device.       The manual makes no reference to a function key to provide boot-time options (typically F12 or F10) ... so you may have to set the flash drive as the first boot device in the BIOS to boot to it.

Here is what the BIOS Boot section looks like:

The part about adding a boot source, I don't know what that is all about.

Okay, the reason you can't boot with the flash drive (or a CD) is that the system is set for UEFI.   You need to change to a legacy BIOS.    This option may be on the Security tab, or could be "buried" in one of the other tabs (possibly "Advanced")

Look VERY carefully for this -- or if you're not sure what to look for take pictures of each of the other tabs and post them.

garycase said it, change UEFi to boot legacy

It had been set to Legacy Enabled. I changed to Disabled and tried, then to Auto, then back to Enabled (where it had been all along) and still not booting from USB (thought the light on the USB flickers)

you still have to press F12 b4 the system boots

Read the note:  "... DISABLE option will keep USB devices available only for EFI applications"

You do NOT want that => set Legacy USB support to Enabled.

Then look at the boot options page, and see what it shows -- and try the "Add New Boot option" selection to add your flash drive as an option.

I tried Add New Boot option. I have no idea what I should be adding there, so I added the USB stick name (UUI). Does not seem to change anything.
But I did discover that when I press ESC when restarting I get this screen but selecting the USB does not boot from it, just comes back to this screen again.

I think (to state again from way back) your drive has died. Time to replace it.

Your drive may indeed have died -- but you won't KNOW that until you try the BIOS update; and you haven't yet found a way to do that on this system.    The system is still set to boot in UEFI mode -- and your flash drive will NOT boot in that mode.

Is the menu you posted above (with the UEFI boot option for a USB device) what you see with Legacy USB support set to "Enabled" ??    If not, try setting it to Enabled (as I noted in my last post).    If it IS, then look VERY carefully in your BIOS settings for an option to change to a traditional (legacy) BIOS.    Be sure you've got Secure Boot turned off (disabled).

Post a picture of what you see on the "Security" screen.

Legacy is set to Enabled (as it has been always but for the time I changed to test).
Here are the screens of the different tabs in the BIO

you can also test this SSd on another system - and update it's firmware

On the Security tab, click on the Secure Boot Menu => and DISABLE Secure Boot.    That should then allow non-UEFI boot devices.

Secure Boot is (and has been) Disabled.

Do you think I should update my bios? I am running 202 and I see there is later ver 206.

You can always try updating BIOS but generally I do not see that fixing a failed drive

John
This issue now is about booting from a USB.

I tried making a bootable dinows 8 on  USB and it did boot. So maybe it is something with this tiny linux that crucial uses?

It's possible that the flash drive you created isn't bootable -- did you try a CD?

Do you have another computer you can try booting it on to see if it boots okay there?    Might be easier to just connect the SSD to another PC :-)

By the way, once you get the flash drive (or CD) to boot with the firmware upgrade, don't forget Crucial's note that if it doesn't "see" the SSD you should try it again with the SATA mode set to IDE/legacy.

I agree your drive MAY simply be dead; but I wouldn't assume that until you've tried the firmware upgrade -- I've only seen two "dead" M500's => and both of them were rejuvenated with a firmware update and worked just fine afterwards.

I think other comments by other experts also deserve credit, especially many by Gary, who made some excellent points and did yeoman's work on this question. In addition to the three posts selected by John, I think these are worthy:

Ramin https:#a42061394
noxcho https:#a42061579
nobus https:#a42068332
garycase https:#a42061631 #a42061982 #a42061987 #a42063945 #a42064996 #a42065052 #a42067235 #a42067362 #a42068138 #a42068351 #a42069066

Regards, Joe